1. Field of the Invention
The field relates to an organic light emitting diode display and a fabricating method thereof, and in particular, an organic light emitting diode display and a fabricating method thereof which includes a protection circuit for preventing a pixel and a driver included in an organic light emitting diode display from being damaged by an electrostatic discharge.
2. Description of the Related Technology
An organic light emitting diode display is one of flat panel displays using an Organic Light Emitting Device (OLED) which emits a light by recombination of the electrons provided from a cathode and the holes provided from an anode. Such an organic light emitting diode display has the advantages such as a thin thickness, a wide viewing angle, and a very fast response.
The organic light emitting diode display is classified into a passive matrix display and an active matrix display depending on a driving method. The passive matrix method is a method, in which an anode and a cathode are formed vertically on a substrate, and a line is selected, thereby driving the diode. On the contrary, the active matrix method is a method which provides a driving current corresponding to a data signal to an organic light emitting device (OLED) by using a thin film transistor (TFT) formed in each pixel, and light is emitted from the organic light emitting device (OLED) by the driving current, thereby an image is displayed, and because of stable brightness, the power consumption is low as compared with the passive matrix method. Accordingly, there is an advantage that it is very useful for applications of a high resolution and a large display.
A conventional organic light emitting diode display includes a pixel region in which the pixels are arranged in a matrix format, and a non-pixel region having a power source and a driver for driving the pixels. The pixels in the pixel region include a thin film transistor and an organic light emitting diode required for driving or switching. The pixel region and the non-pixel region are coupled each other via multiple lines.
The conventional organic light emitting diode display described above is fabricated through at least a step of forming a thin film transistor, a step of forming an organic light emitting diode, an encapsulation step, and a moduling step. In the organic light emitting diodes display, while these steps are being performed, static electricity can be generated due to environmental factors inside and outside. The static electricity can be generated during almost all fabricating processes including deposition, etching and etc. for fabricating the organic light emitting diode display, or can be generated due to outside environment while an image is being displayed on the organic light emitting diode display.
In the conventional organic light emitting diodes display, there is a problem that the inside circuit can be damaged due to the ElectroStatic Discharge (ESD) generated by outside environment during above-mentioned fabricating processes.